A picture is worth a thousand words. It is therefore no surprise that graphic transparencies are an important part of many presentations. In business, graphic transparencies provide speaker support in the form of a slide presentation; in education, they present concepts as readily grasped images; in entertainment, they compliment the entertainer and increase the pleasure of the performance to the audience.
Graphic transparencies are most effective when produced in an imaginative and professional manner. Color range should be extensive, backgrounds should match where appropriate. To this end, graphic transparency production laboratories should offer accurate color matching and a wide range of colors to choose from.
Graphic transparency production laboratories typically use one or more of several approaches to matching and/or selecting color. The approaches vary with the sophistication of the particular laboratory. Most laboratories offer a color range of less than 50 different colors. The colors offered are seldom relative to each other.
The limited number of available colors, coupled with the lack of logical color standard organization, reduces the options the laboratory may offer its customers. As a result, the photographic arts suffer. In the context of graphic color slides, most processing laboratories are severely lacking in color theory expertise. There is no practical didactic in color transparency theory, especially its application to graphic slide production.
Although there are several sophisticated devices available to the color transparency processing laboratory, ultimately filters of varying colors and densities are used for selecting or matching colors. The most basic method of selecting the proper filtering is the trial and error method. This method consumes a great deal of camera time, as well as a large quantity of printing medium.
Computer generated graphics systems can produce an unlimited variety of color, yet most such systems offer a standard selection of less than 100 colors. Recent developments in microelectronics have resulted in the marketing of computer controlled color heads, but there is still no logical device or method by which a laboratory operator can match or select a wide range of colors.
Although filters of various colors and densities are known to be useful for correction of color cast; the art sorely lacks any rapid and logical color reference selecting and matching method or device. There is no color reference allowing quick selection and accurate matching of a wide range of colors. This is especially true where reference colors should be easily and reliably obtained on standard processing equipment such that the laboratory operator can offer his customers the widest range of colors possible at the most reasonable cost. The availability of such a reference system would allow the photographic and graphic transparency arts to continue to provide unlimited opportunity for artistic expression and technical excellence.